October Book Review by Shona Wilkinson

Motivational Interviewing (3rd ed.) by William Miller and Stephen Rollnick

If you are interested in being more effective in helping your clients change unhealthy behaviours long term and improve their compliance with nutrition plans Motivational Interviewing (MI) could be the tool you have been looking for. Authors William Miller and Stephen Rollnick are world renowned experts on MI and have been researching, writing and leading seminars on this subject for over 20 years.

In the words of the authors:

“Motivation interviewing is a person-centered counselling style for addressing the common problem or ambivalence about change. MI is done for or with someone, not on or to them. MI makes particular use of open questions, those that invite the person to reflect and elaborate, and they play a key role in evoking motivation and planning a course toward change. It is the client not the counselor who produces change. There are four key processes in the change process: engaging, focusing, evoking and planning.”

I have found this book to be a very useful tool in helping my clients choose to change unhealthy behaviors by encouraging their own “change talk”. Once they have decided to change they are far more invested in the change process.

I recommend this book to all clinical nutritionists as it could enhance the way you communicate with your clients and help them achieve their health goals for the long term. It is engagingly written with loads of examples, and contains all the information you need to put MI techniques into place from your next client meeting.